看牙醫前刷牙的真正原因

I’ve 1)been guilty of it.A day or two before my dentist appointment， I will spend twice the normal amount of time brushing my teeth and triple the time 2)flossing(I’m usually a fast flosser).

I even make the effort to brush my teeth again and use Listerine， right before my appointment.

If I really think about it…it’s absurd.

Here I am， paying my dentist to clean my teeth and I am doing most of the work for her(although she probably 3)begs to differ).

How about you?

Are you guilty of this as well?

Are you the type of person that will clean up the house before the cleaning lady comes?

If you are， or know someone who is， read on.

So， why do we do this to ourselves?

There is really only one reason:

We care about what other people think.

We are afraid our dentist and the dental assistants will silently look at each other with furrowed brows and 4)disgruntled looks when working on our teeth.We can already see them talking about us the next day， commenting on how lazy and 5)unhygienic we are. We can readily imagine our cleaning lady shaking her head 6)disapprovingly as she cleans up our mess (a gesture she usually reserves for college dorm rooms and seedy motels).

No matter how we try to spin it， we just don’t like to be judged negatively by other people (especially people we don’t know).

Whether it is cleaning up before the maid arrives， or brushing your teeth more 7)vigilantly than usual prior to a trip to the dentist—both are harmless 8)tendencies to have. However， it’s when it becomes a habit and you automatically start to go against your 9)natural inclinations because you are afraid of what other people will think， that it becomes dangerous.

A good warning sign is when you begin to rationalize your behavior， instead of taking responsibility. You tell yourself that by cleaning up， you are being considerate to others. You argue that the more “easy” work you do， the better they can focus on the “hard” work you paid them to do. I learned somewhere that there are always two reasons for doing something: the reason that sounds good and the real reason.

The reasons that sound good are all too familiar， so what is the real reason you brush your teeth before going to the dentist?

You care more about what other people think of you than what you think of yourself.

This is a formula for disaster for one reason:

You have no power over the actions and thoughts of other people.

So， if your self-image is based on what other people think about you， you’re going to be in for some pretty big up and down days. Each time someone changes their opinion of you， you 10)disempower yourself by 11)altering your self-worth.

Now that’s a pretty horrible way to live and it doesn’t have to be that way.

我對此一直心中有愧。在我看牙醫前的一兩天，我會花上比平常多一倍的時間刷牙，比平常多兩倍的時間用牙線清潔牙齒（平時我用牙線三兩下就完事了）。

我甚至還會在去看牙醫的前一刻用力再刷一遍牙，并且用上李施德林漱口水。

其實要是認真想一想……這種行為太荒謬了。

現在我是，付錢給牙醫，但自己卻做了牙醫的大部分工作（盡管她很可能會表示不予茍同）。

你又會怎樣做呢？

你也會為這種事感到愧疚嗎？

你是那種清潔女傭來之前會仔細打掃房子的人嗎？

如果你是，或者你認識這樣的人，就讀一讀這篇文章吧。

那么，我們為什么會這樣做呢？

以下是唯一的真正原因：我們十分在乎別人的想法。

我們害怕牙醫及其助理在搗騰我們的牙齒時，會默默交換眼色，眉頭緊皺，滿臉鄙夷。我們甚至已經想象到第二天他們會談論自己，說這個病人有多么的懶惰和邋遢了。我們還會很容易就聯想到清潔女傭在打掃房間時會不以為然地搖頭（這種姿態通常是她在清潔學校宿舍和破舊的汽車旅館時的保留動作）。

不論我們怎樣自圓其說，歸根結底只是我們不喜歡別人（尤其是陌生人）的負面評價。

無論是清潔女傭來之前清掃房間，還是看牙醫前更認真地刷牙齒——這兩種做法并無大礙。然而，如果這變成一種習慣，并且由于你害怕別人的想法，而導致你自覺地開始違背自己的本性，這種情況就很危險了。

當你開始為自己的行為找借口，而不去承擔責任時，就要警惕了。